Dani Phantom: Christmas Crusade
by Blak-Ice
Summary: This Christmas may be both Danielle's first and her last. After accidentally releasing the evil Winter Warlord, Danielle has to find a way to stop him before he reaches the North Pole to destroy the worlds favorite elf: Santa Claus. "Oh my god! What've I done? I've got to stop him or else not only will Christmas be ruined forever, I'll be stuck on the naughty list for eternity!"


**Quick note: For all of those who haven't read my other stories, I suggest you go read them so as not to get confused as to what all is going on and being referenced. For all of those who have, I suggest you go to the 1 Human Plus 2 Halfas Equals A Family EXTRAS story and read the Christmas chapter as a few things are referenced in this from that chapter as well. **

Chapter 1: Return of the Winter Warlock

Fresh snow. There was nothing better than watching as the newly formed ice crystals drifted down from the sky, landing daintily on the ground except scooping it up, packing it in tight and nailing your friend in the back of the head with it.

Youngblood yelped as he fell, face first into the snow. Danielle stood by laughing her head off as Cujo barked excitedly next to her. Danielle loved the fact that she could walk around in her ghost form and not feel even the slightest bit of cold, unlike her friend who was completely bundled up from head to toe. Youngblood, on the other hand, was not as excited. Looking over to his own companion, the boy began to complain.

"Parrot!? What are you doing just flapping away over there!?" Youngblood cried out as he dusted the snow of his green winter jacket.

"I warned you to look out," Parrot replied in a bored tone.

"Well that's real helpful. Do you want to lose this snowball fight!?"

"I didn't even want to be a part of this."

"Good team work you got going on over there," Danielle said. "At this rate, we're gonna win without even having to try. Right, Cujo?"

Cujo barked back at her, tongue hanging from his mouth and black scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Well it's not fair that you have an advantage over us. You know I can't deal with the cold like you can. Why'd you pick the Far Frozen anyway?" Youngblood protested.

"It's not my fault I have a cold core like my Dad. And because the Far Frozen has an unending supply of snow for us to use."

"Well it still isn't fair. You've been here a lot more then I have so you know the area better."

"Even if that were a valid point and not some lame excuse for you sucking at hitting me, it wouldn't matter. But just to show you I'm a good sport, I'll give you a head start. Go run off somewhere and I'll try to find you." Youngblood narrowed his eyes before grabbing his companion and running off into the frozen tundra.

"Are you sure this is a smart idea?" Parrot asked as he sat on Youngblood's shoulder.

"Of course it is! The only way we're going to beat them is to get a jump on them," Youngblood said as he looked over his shoulder. Unfortunately for him, with his attention drawn the opposite way, Youngblood failed to notice the large crevasse that was just over the ridge. Hopping over the snow bank, the smirk fell from Youngblood's face as he soon found himself plummeting into a dark hole. His screams filled the air, echoing off the icy walls around him. Parrot simply flapped his wings, watching as the young ghost fell deeper into the dark.

"Why does that boy always forget that he can fly?" Parrot mumbled before descending down after his master. It didn't take long to find him as Youngblood continued to moan in pain as he lay on the snow cover ground. He legs hung in the air as his head slowly come up out of the snow.

"What happened?" Youngblood asked in a daze.

"You fell on your face again," Danielle said, appearing out of nowhere with an ecto-energy ball in her hand as a light source. Youngblood screamed, jumping back in surprise. "You know, I'm really starting to think that you enjoy eating snow considering you've had your face stuck in it all day."

"Oh ha ha, you're so freaking funny," He said as he got to his feet. "How did you find me so quick anyway?"

"I'd say that I just had Cujo sniff you out, but with all that screaming you were doing, it was impossible not to find you even if I were deaf."

"Shut up! I wasn't screaming that loudly."

"Um, yeah you were, Jake," she said with a smile.

"I don't know why I even let you talk me into coming here," he said as he brushed himself off for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Because you love," Danielle said in a sweet voice with an evil smirk. Youngblood paused in his task, looking at her as his face turned a light green as he blushed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he stated, though he refused to look her in the eye. Danielle almost rolled her eyes at that. She knew that he had at least a crush on her, though she had only found out recently from one of her solo hanging sessions with Ember. Danielle was a bit surprised by this, but also a little happy. She had yet to completely figure out her own feelings for her friend, but she knew that she liked him. Unfortunately for Youngblood, with Danielle having this type of knowledge, she had the ball in her court and she was now determined to torment him any chance she got.

"Right. So, if you're done making face down snow angels, let's get back up there before we have to go back and help Ember finish setting up for the Christmas Truce party."

"I don't know why she's been in such a crabby mood about it lately. She has pretty much everything prepared."

"The party is in three days, Jake. Of course she's gonna be a bit on edge about it."

"A bit on edge? She nearly took my head off yesterday with one of her fireballs!"

"Well if it's so dangerous, why not get your own lair separate from her again?"

"Because I know she doesn't mean it right now. She just wants it to be good as it can be, but you know how she gets. Everything has to be a show with her," he said, taking his skull cap off and brushing snow out of his hair.

"So what do you want to do now?" Danielle asked, holding her hand up to illuminate the path around them. The green light bounced off the walls, shining the light even further. "Wanna see where this goes?"

"Sure. Better than being pelted by snowballs all day."

"Oh quit being a baby, Jake. At least you didn't get nailed with an ice ball to the face like I did," Danielle said as she recalled the very upsetting encounter with her cousin Jenny and the resulting broken nose she suffered because of it. Her nose had already healed and was set back in place, but that was little comfort considering the embarrassment she had suffered.

"I still don't see why you didn't just rat her out or blast her. Sounds like to me she would have deserved it," Youngblood said as he followed her.

"Because it didn't matter if I had or not. It would have only made things worse, and it was pretty clear that she had won that one. Besides, Santa said that I was better by being the bigger person."

"Oh, here we go again," Youngblood mumbled to Parrot.

"Don't start with me, Jacob," Danielle warned.

"I'm just saying, it's pretty funny that you still believe in Santa Claus, who by the way isn't real. I mean, you're almost thirteen. Most kids stop believing when they're like nine."

"Yeah, and most kids aren't halfa ghost hybrids who were created using two people's DNA and forced grown to be physically the age of a twelve year old girl with a very short temper for her friend that could result in him getting blown into oblivion," she said, looking over her shoulder at him. Youngblood, gulped a little, not sure of how serious she was bout the last part, and turned his attention forward down the cavern.

"Anyway, how far down do you think we feel?"

"You mean how far you fell. I floated down here after your idiotic self," she said, still pissed at him as she walked forward. Cujo curiously sniffed the air as he walked in front of them. His hypersensitive nose had caught a scent when they had landed, but he didn't know what it was. All that he knew was that it was closer to them then they thought, and that they were getting closer with every step.

"Right…so how far do you think I fell?"

"Don't know, and I don't care. I'm just kinda glad you fell on your face."

"Ouch. A bit harsh, don't you think?"

"No, but perhaps if you thought once in a while before you spoke, you wouldn't find yourself in these kinds of situations as often as you do," Parrot said.

Youngblood could only sigh as he scratched the side of his head. Of course he knew that Parrot was right. If there was one thing that he was guilty of doing the most, it was putting his foot in his mouth. Especially around Danielle. After the first time he got her angry over going to her school dance, he had been trying to get better at watching what he said around her, but apparently he'd only been making very small progress if any. Looking at the girl in front of him, he did feel guilty about what he said, but a small apology wasn't going to get him out of this one that easily. At least it was a start.

"Look, Dani-"

Youngblood was cut off as Danielle held her hand up, the universal sign to stop. A low growling echoed around them causing the three to look down at Cujo as he stepped back onto his hunches like a wolf ready to pounce. Danielle kneeled next to him, gently petting his fur in an attempt to sooth the upset dog.

"What is it, Cujo?" Danielle asked, but the dog continued to growl as he faced the path ahead of the. Danielle's vision followed his, and for some reason, she felt a bit of unease mixed in with her curiosity. Whatever it was that was down had to bad if it was putting both her and Cujo on edge. "Something's down there."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but I know it's probably not good. Whatever it is it can't be good if it's got Cujo this worked up."

"Well do you think we should head back and go get Frostbite or something?" Youngblood asked as he walked up and stood next to her.

"No. It's better if we go ourselves. If we can find out what it is, maybe we can deal with it ourselves."

"Um are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked.

"Don't tell me that the oh so fearsome Youngblood is scared of walking down a dark path," Danielle said with a smirk. Youngblood narrowed his eyes are her. If there was one thing he hated, it was anyone insulting his pride, and Danielle knew this. It was how she always seemed to get her way with him, though of course it worked both ways in their relationship, whatever it was.

"Of course not. I'm not scared of anything. But as I recall, the last time we did something like this, we not only nearly got eaten by a giant Ghost Squid, we both got grounded for a month because we were caught trespassing."

"Well, then this time we'll just have to be more careful not to get caught, now won't we?" she said, spinning on her heel and progressing down the path. Youngblood shook his head, wondering if maybe he had rubbed off more on her then she had on him, but followed after her.

As the two walked down the cavern, they noticed that the walls started to widen out, giving them more room to walk. They had long since lost site of the opening and were now in what looked to be a cave. The icicles hung from the ceiling, gleaming in the light as they walked while the walls reflected their images in the clear, smooth ice. Neither said anything, both too busy admiring their surroundings. Even Parrot was curious as to what exactly could be hidden down in the cold depths of the Far Frozen. The sound of Cujo's sniffing the ground came to an abrupt end as he began to bark.

The two young ghosts turned to the dog, but their attentions didn't stay there for long as they saw just what he had been baking at before. Before them stood a pair of large double doors made of what looked to be a dense metal that seemed to glow a bright blue color. Both kids were astonished by the size of the doors and couldn't help but wonder what could be behind the doors.

"Look at the size of those doors!" Youngblood said. "Whatever's behind it has got to be a giant!"

"I'll say," Danielle said before noticing something. On the wall next to the door was a small plague, written in a strange language. "What's that?"

Youngblood walked over to it, scanning the message briefly before motioning for his friend to come over.

"It's a message written in ghost."

"But I don't know any ghost," she said as she looked at it.

"I do, but not enough to be able to read Old Zone Ghost. Parrot?" Youngblood turned to the small bird on his shoulder who was reading over the message carefully.

"Yes, I can read it," the bird said, eyes travelling over it as he spoke out loud. "It says, "Ice, Ice, stone, stone. Let this message chill ye to the bone. Take heed and great care, less ye be a person rare. These doors of metal, a symbol they proclaim, for if the rarest of rare should speak his name, the Winter Warlord, king of this domain, shall raise to his claim. Should the spell break and the fierce stinging of winter soar, it may be mended, by one of ghostly blood, impure"."

"Ok, I have no idea what any of that meant, but I know for a fact that it's not a good thing," Youngblood said, stepping back from the doors. "I've never even heard of this guy, but if he's been locked awake, it's probably for good reason."

"You're probably right," Danielle said backing away as well. "Whoever he is, he's got to be bad news with a name like Winter Warlord."

A loud creaking noise echoed around them, startling the two as they watched large cracks started to form from around the doors. The once calming blue aura around the doors changed to a fierce, menacing red color.

Danielle and Youngblood stared in fright as the room began to shake around them and the creaking grew louder. Above them icicles began to fall toward the two. Youngblood, snapping out of his Trans, grabbed Danielle's hand and pulled her out the way of a large icicle that would have surely sliced her in two. Instinct took over as he pulled her to his chest and held her there. In any normal situation, the two of them would have blushed in embarrassment, but their attention was elsewhere as they watched the double doors slowly begin to open up. Cujo's barking grew more frequent and frantic as he stood in front of them.

A large gust of wind began to blow at then sending a slight chill down their spines. The door opened wider and a blinding light shone as it spread across the room. Everyone covered their eyes, only looking back once the light had completely faded and the room had stopped shaking. However, Cujo had not settled down as he growled at the newcomer. Danielle separated from Youngblood as she took a few cautionary steps forward.

The man standing before them simply radiated power though he seemed almost middle aged. His body was built and muscular as he stood in what Danielle guessed were ghost animal fur boots, pants and a shirt with a fur cloak attached to it as they were all various shades of blue. His skin was a pale blue color that matched his eyes while his hair was as white as Danielle's. The man began to take a few steps forward, taking a deep breath and letting the cold air fill his lungs. A large smile came to his face as his eyes fell upon Danielle, Youngblood and their animal partners.

"You, boy," he said pointing to and startling Youngblood. "Are you the ones who set me free?"

"Uh, um…"Youngblood was at a loss for words as he stared the two kids down.

"It matters not," he said, marching up to them. "Now that I am free, it is time that I continued what I had started oh so long ago. Tell me, what day is it?"

"De-Dec-December 22nd."

"Ah, wonderful. Christmas is in a few days. Now is the perfect time for me to enact my plan. It is time that the world stop worshiping that fat oaf at the Northern point of the Earth, and for them to bow down before the true ruler of the world. The name Santa Claus will be wiped clean of history and replaced by me, the Winter Warlord."

"You're going to kill Santa!?" Danielle shouted, getting into a battle position. "Sorry, pal, but that's not gonna happen! Not while I'm still able to move my body!"

"How cute. A child as small as yourself, actually believing that she can stop me," Warlord said. "Let me show you why your threat is nothing but meaningless noise to me."

Danielle hand barely any time to blink before feeling a sharp pain in the side of her face as Warlord brought the back of his hand, now covered in ice, down to strike her. The sharp impact against the solid ice hurt almost as much as her face which stung as a bit of ice had imbedded itself in her cheek.

"Dani!" Youngblood yelled, preparing to help his friend.

"Never take your eyes off your opponent, boy!" Warlord said with a sadistic smile as he slid across the ice in front of him. Bringing his foot up, Warlord coated it in a layer of ice much like he had his hand, and delivered a swift kick to Youngblood's stomach. The impact was intense, stunning him as his body was sent flying into the wall next to Danielle. The pain, much like Danielle's, was instantaneous and Youngblood soon found himself bent over clutching his stomach, a small patch of ice on keeping his hand from actually making contact with his bruised midsection.

Danielle successfully pried herself out of the wall, but the ringing in her ears and the constant moving of her vision prevented her from standing. Warlord smiled as me made his way over to them, preparing to strike once more, but was cut off as Cujo stood before the ghost in his large dog form, teeth bared and a menacing growl growing at the back of his throat.

"How cute. The little puppy thinks he can protect his master," he taunted. Cujo only growled more before pouncing at the man. Warlord raised his hand, firing a cold blast at the poor green dog that sent him flying. Cujo whimpered, now back in his puppy form, as he landed in front of Danielle, body partial frozen and stiff.

"Cujo," Danielle groaned out sluggishly as she reached out and pulled him to her. She was shocked at how he was as cold as a block of ice.

"Ah, it feels good to stretch my legs again after so many years," Warlord said. "And though this has been fun, I have matters to attend to. But as a show of appreciation, I shall spare all of your lives and instead, sentence you to spend an eternity frozen in ice!" A bright glow emitted from his hand as he pointed at Danielle. Danielle stared at him in fear, not sure of what to do. The beam seemed to fire in slow motion as it made its trek toward her.

"DANIELLE!" Youngblood shouted, as he slid in front of her, wrapping his arms around her just in time for the beam to strike him in the back.

"JACOB!" She shouted back.

Warlord continued to fire his powers for a few more seconds before letting up. Where the children once stood was now nothing more than a giant pillar of ice that seemed to sparkle under his aura. Warlord smiled as he turned toward the exit and made his way out of the cavern, his mind swirling with new ideas for his soon to be frozen paradise.

To Be Continued…

**Well…things just got really cold, didn't they? **

**Any, I'd like to thank all you guys who voted because I couldn't decide. Just to let you know, the poll ended up in a draw. So what do I do? I write both, which took all day. **

**Thanks, guys. -_-**

**But anyway, this is my Christmas present to all of you. If you ignored my message at the top, I'll say it again down here: You should go read the EXTRAS story because things from the Christmas chapter get referenced in this story. **

**Anyway, Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas!**


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